Greenmail

A California appellate court upheld a preliminary injunction granted last summer against a group led by New York financier Saul P. Steinberg, requiring Steinberg to place in trust his profits of about $60 million received in a so-called greenmail transaction until a shareholders' lawsuit is resolved.

The Iacocca article is a good example of the "best defense is a good offense." He decrys the payment of greenmail as "blackmail in a pin-stripe suit," which I believe is 100% correct, but who are the beneficiaries of these payments? Certainly not the hapless shareholder whose shares usually plummet after payment to a raider, nor the corporation, which now has a reduced net worth and probably a mountain full of debt. No, the only beneficiaries of these payments are management, who are so fearful of losing their jobs that they give away shareholders' money to pay off a raider.

What if General Motors, instead of corporate raider T. Boone Pickens, had invested heavily in Koito Manufacturing, the auto parts supplier that has reluctantly come to symbolize Japan's closed corporate structure? Would the world's largest auto maker get a seat on Koito's board? "Very difficult," said Takao Matsuura, Koito's president. "They'd find out how we receive orders from our Japanese customers; I can't imagine such a situation. We'd never let them put in an officer."

T. Boone Pickens Jr. was forced Wednesday to reveal who paid for his $1-billion stake in a Japanese auto parts maker, muddling his campaign to influence the company and win greater shareholder rights in Japan. The money for Pickens' 26.4% stake in Koito Manufacturing Co. was provided by well-known Japanese raider and property speculator Kitaro Watanabe, who also sold Pickens a chunk of the stock, a lawyer for Pickens said.

Legislators Friday unveiled the details of a deficit-shrinking tax increase which is designed to raise $23 billion over the next two fiscal years, primarily from corporations and wealthy individuals. In the package, the final details of which were negotiated late Thursday night and informally approved just before midnight by Senate and House negotiators, virtually the only item affecting the average taxpayer is a three-year extension of the present 3% excise tax on telephone service.

The president of Koito Manufacturing Co. exchanged accusations Monday with T. Boone Pickens Jr., the auto parts maker's largest shareholder, in a dispute over whether Pickens really owns the shares registered in his name.

Officials of Koito Manufacturing Co. are bracing for a rambunctious general shareholder meeting today, anticipating that a cast of thugs will be on the scene to cause trouble and discredit management when American corporate raider T. Boone Pickens Jr. takes the floor. Takao Matsuura, Koito's president, told foreign journalists Wednesday night that he was "very concerned" about the possibility of a disturbance at the meeting caused by sokaiya , underworld gadflies whose specialty is disrupting, or controlling, shareholder meetings in an extortion racket unique to Japan.

A Japanese auto parts maker today rejected American investor T. Boone Pickens' demand to review the company's financial records. In a hearing in Tokyo District Court, lawyers for Koito Manufacturing Co. argued that Pickens' demand was part of a "greenmailing scheme," rather than the exercise of a justifiable shareholder's right. Pickens is Koito's largest single shareholder, owning 26% of the Tokyo-based firm's shares. It was the first hearing in a lawsuit the Texas oilman filed Jan.

Much of the nation's attention is focused too narrowly these days on a few money-hungry financial manipulators and their impact on the stock market and corporate America. Almost ignored are the hundreds of thousands of workers whose jobs are being eliminated or whose wages are being drastically cut as a result of the big-deal mania afflicting the country.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury heard conflicting accounts Monday of why Walt Disney Co. directors bought out raider Saul P. Steinberg in 1984. The differing versions came in opening arguments in a class-action lawsuit by some Disney stockholders, spearheaded by stock market professionals, against Steinberg, the company and directors. The shareholders are seeking unspecified damages related to the plunge in Disney's stock price after the Burbank-based film and theme-park company bought Steinberg's 11% stake in the company at above-market prices, resulting in a $59-million profit for Steinberg.